A Drink Is A Wish Your Heart Makes
by RoguesKnight
Summary: Cassandra's feeling forgotten while sitting alone in a bar on her twenty-fifth birthday. Maybe a visit from a certain blonde Guardian can change that. F/F pairing.


A Drink Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

Author: Roguesknight

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The Librarians…want to be one, yes. Own them no.

Cassandra sat alone at a small table in a corner of the bar, cradling a half empty mug of beer in her hands and doing her best to pretend it wasn't bothering her to be celebrating her twenty fifth birthday by herself. She figured she really should be used to it by now; after she'd received the diagnosis of her brain tumor at fifteen her parents had stopped celebrating her birth, just like they'd stopped caring about her achievements. What was the point? If she couldn't live out their big exciting dreams; why bother even acknowledging that they had a daughter? And for the tenth year in a row they hadn't bothered with so much as a phone call.

This year though, she'd honestly hoped that things would have been a little different. For the first time in what felt like forever, she actually had friends who cared about her; and still she found herself alone. Not for a lack of trying on her part...though she hadn't played the birthday card. It just felt manipulative, at least this early in their friendships. She'd asked Ezekiel if he wanted to get some drinks first; there was just something about the thief that put her at ease, and he seemed genuinely regretful when he'd declined, asking for a rain check and explaining there was "something " he had to do. The furtive look that accompanied the statement stopped her from asking any questions. After all, the less she knew, the less she could be expected to testify about if he got caught.

Next she had tried Jacob; figuring he wouldn't pass up the opportunity for some drinks and the attendant possibility of a bar fight. "Swing and a miss." She muttered, raising the mug to her lips and taking a long pull. Jacob too, it seemed, already had plans. Something about wanting to see more of the world. Judging from the way his eyes had focused on just about anything other than her, Cassandra had the sneaking suspicion that he still didn't trust her; or hell, probably blamed her for having to pull the plug on Tesla's capacitor and dooming his hundred and thirty year old possible love interest. Either way, he'd made a quick escape to the Back Door and from there to who knows where. "His loss." She attempted to console herself.

She had even ventured into Jenkins' little lab near the back of the Annex in search of company. Jenkins had been in the middle of an experiment; a protective apron over his usual suit and a pair of safety goggles resting atop his head when she peeked in. What exactly it was that he was working on, she had no inkling and for the sake of her sanity, she hadn't asked. Instead she'd plowed through with her plan for securing a drinking companion for the evening only to be turned down once again, though far less acerbically than she'd expected. Jenkins had simply told her that the experiment was too delicate to abandon at the moment. Cassandra had, of course, understood and wished him luck before she'd turned to leave; only to be stopped in her tracks by his gently wishing her a happy birthday and telling her to have some fun. She'd asked how he knew it was her birthday when no one else seemed to be aware only for him to smile enigmatically and turn back to his experiment.

And that was how she came to find herself alone in Joe's bar. She could at least pretend that she was just making sure there was no lingering after effects on the town as a result of the Libris Fabula ...and were any of her fellow librarians to find her here that was precisely the excuse she was going with. The truth was that she hadn't exactly hated the attention that the women of the town had shown while she was Prince Charming, heck, even Colonel Baird hadn't been immune. She shook her head briskly; stopping that train of thought before it could leave the station...again. She had almost sought Eve...Colonel Baird out after Jenkins had turned her down but three rejections in a single night were really more than enough. It was the principle of the thing, and not at all that she wasn't sure if she could have handled the Guardian rejecting her too...nope! Cassandra Cillian was a woman of principle gosh darn it! Now, if only she could convince herself that was the actual reason. She sighed, idly swirling the remnants of her drink around the bottle of her mug. Things had been...not tense, per se...maybe strained was better...between the two ladies lately; Cassandra had the distinct feeling that the Guardian was sidelining her as much as possible and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

So she had a time bomb in her brain! So what!? That meant that she should experience as much as life had to offer while she still could! After all, she was just as competent a Librarian as Jacob or Ezekiel; hadn't she taken Lamia down without breaking a sweat? While unarmed no less! And sure, that may have been while under the influence of the apple of discord, but it still counted. Ok, so maybe the plan to jump from kicking Lamia's ass to wreaking death and destruction on Europe for giggles was a bit much. And she was pretty sure she was the only one not taken by Katie's little house of horrors; not only that but she was the one to stop the psycho spirit and save the day. And here in this very town, she'd done pretty well as Prince Charming in protecting innocent people even before she got a boost from Merlin's powers, hadn't she? "Damn right I did!" She exclaimed, bringing the near empty mug down on the table just a little more forcefully than she'd intend; drawing stared from a couple of nearby tables and the cute, buxom brunette sitting alone at the bar. The one whose top Cassandra was fairly certain was defying the laws of physics and whose pants must have been painted on; not that she noticed such things of course. "Sorry," she apologized with an embarrassed smile and a small wave.

The tables occupants rolled their eyes and turned back to their conversations; the brunette at the bar returned her wave and smile, the faintest hint of a blush coloring her exceedingly pale cheeks before turning back to her own drink. Cassandra paused, eyes lingering on the other woman as she considered the distinct possibility that the Libris Fabula's effects hadn't completely disappeared after all. If a little wave was all it took to get a knockout like that blushing, magic definitely had to be involved, she reasoned quietly. At the very least it bore further investigation...though perhaps after a little more liquid courage; maybe something fruity and sweet enough to disguise the strength of the alcohol so if she was wrong either about the magic or that the other woman was interested, she could always blame the drink. Oh! And the drink should most definitely have an umbrella in it because those were fun! She was pulled from her pondering by a waitress setting a strawberry daiquiri, complete with an umbrella, and a large bowl of vanilla ice cream surrounding a fried apple and drizzled with caramel; on the table in front of her. "Ummm I didn't order this." She offered with a confused glance as the waitress retrieved her empty beer mug. "I mean it looks really, really good and I was actually thinking of another drink but..." she trailed off, gesturing vaguely at the dessert.

The waitress flashed a dazzling smile, "Oh it's compliments of the blonde at the bar." She replied.

"Blonde?" Cassandra asked; turning in her seat, she scanned the bar until her eyes settled on the woman in question. Her golden hair fell freely with a slight curl, stopping just shy of her shoulders and she was wearing a form fitting black dress that ended just above mid thigh; showing off an impressive amount of leg. She was also frustratingly engaged in conversation with the bartender, keeping her face out of view.

Perhaps picking up on Cassandra's apprehension, she added,"I can take it back if you're not interested; let her know that you said no thanks."

"No...no," the redhead responded quickly with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I just didn't see her come in I guess." Noticing the waitress's skeptical glance, she tried again. "Really...it's a surprise is all. Umm maybe you could let her know that she can join me if she'd like so I can thank her."

"Sure thing." The waitress replied before walking towards the mystery woman.

As she watched the waitress walk away, Cassandra reached down and grabbed her purse from the floor beside her feet and pulled it into her lap; she kept her attention on the bar as she searched through the purse for her phone. Just because two different women had shown some level of interest in one night it didn't necessarily mean that magic was involved but on the off chance it was, there was no harm in being prepared to call Jenkins for help, right? As her hand settled around her phone, the blonde at the bar nodded to something the waitress said turned to face Cassandra fully, smiling softly as she made her way towards the table.

Cassandra's hand went still around the phone and it was nothing short of a miracle that her jaw didn't drop completely through the floor, and maybe the earth below it as well as she recognized Eve. Eve Baird in what could only be described as a slinky black dress was walking her way. Cassandra had always liked slinkies, particularly the sound they made as the went down stairs...she briefly wondered about how much fun it could be to slip the thin spaghetti straps from Eve's shoulders and let the dress fall and what sounds that could lead to. Once more she slammed the brakes on her train of thought and quickly pulled her hand out of the purse to grab the daiquiri; taking a drink and hoping...nay...praying it would put out the flames in her cheeks. Amazingly she managed to swallow the iced alcoholic goodness quickly without suffering from brain freeze. "Colonel Baird, this is a pleasant surprise...unless there's an emergency we're needed for..,but if there was then you probably would have called...not bought me a drink and dessert. Thank you for that by the way...and you wouldn't be wearing something like that...unless you were undercover...not that you don't look lovely..." she just barely managed to cut herself off without resorting to physically covering her mouth.

"Please, Cassandra, we've been working together long enough that I think you can call me Eve." The guardian's smile widened as she motioned to the chair opposite the younger woman. "Do you mind if I join you? Unless I'm interrupting something, that is...I mean it is your birthday, I wouldn't want to spoil your plans."

"No. No plans to spoil, please sit." She replied, "In fact, feel welcome to help eat this ridiculously yummy looking dessert. I shouldn't have this much sugar...we can see if the waitress could bring you a spoon...or we could share the spoon...not in a feeding each other kind of way or anything." She trailed off, sure that her cheeks matched her hair. Clearing her throat, she tried a different line of conversation,"So how did you know that it is my birthday anyway? It's not like we have an office calendar with them written on it on anything; come to think of it we totally should."

"I'd be a pretty poor Guardian if I didn't know at least the basics about you guys wouldn't I?" She answered. "And yes, since you were sweet enough to offer, I'll be happy to share your dessert but the birthday girl goes first." She couldn't help but chuckle as Cassandra dug in to the frozen treat. "Speaking of you guys, I'm surprised that Ezekiel and Jacob aren't here with you. I can't imagine Ezekiel would pass up the opportunity to come back and harass sheriff Heyer again and Jacob would probably like to know if it was just the spell that had all the women falling for you or if it was his sparkling personality driving them off."

Cassandra's hand flew to cover her mouth as she swallowed convulsively to keep from choking to death on ice cream. "Don't make me laugh when my mouth's full." She managed to wheeze as she offered the spoon to Eve." I did ask both of them if they wanted to do something," she began with an apathetic shrug, " but they both already had things to do. It's not a big deal or anything."

Eve fixed her with a knowing stare. "You didn't tell either of them that it's your birthday, did you?" The silence was more than enough of an answer but she wanted to know why the young Librarian felt she had to celebrate alone. "Cassandra?" She prodded gently. She dipped the spoon into the ice cream as she waited before bringing it slowly to her mouth and savoring the rich vanilla.

"No." She admitted, tearing her eyes away from where the spoon rested against Eve's lips. She was not jealous of an inanimate hunk of metal. Really. "They already had plans when I asked and I didn't want to seem needy by saying something like 'hey if you're not doing anything later want to hang out? It no big, just my birthday." She huffed, crossing her arms over her stomach and staring resolutely into the ice cream. "I even tried asking Jenkins if he wanted to do something; god knows he could stand to get out of the annex for something other than a case but even he was too busy...and he knew it was my birthday too...so there!" It took a not inconsiderable amount of will power for her to not punctuate the statement by sticking out her tongue but she managed. Barely.

Eve nodded slowly as she passed the spoon back, carefully weighing her next question. "So, you asked Stone, Jones, and Jenkins. Why didn't you ask me?" She did her best to keep her tone even but couldn't deny that actually hearing the words had hurt. This time the silence seemed to drag on forever as the redhead studiously avoided eye contact and focused on her dessert. It was only briefly broken when the waitress returned to check on them; at which point Eve ordered a dirty martini and Cassandra asked for another daiquiri. Only once she had departed and returned with their drinks did the other woman speak again.

"How about this? I'll tell you the truth if you tell me the truth. An answer for an answer. Deal?" She nervously bit her lower lip as she finally met Eve's eyes.

"Deal." The blonde replied without hesitation, extending her hand across the table in spite of the quiet unease settling in the pit of her stomach. They shook once briefly before releasing.

Cassandra swore internally and vowed never to play poker against Eve. She'd been sure that her bluff would have worked. " I didn't ask you because..." She looked away, blinking back tears, "Because I didn't want to be turned down again, ok? Not by you. If I didn't ask then there wasn't any risk." She paused, bringing her eyes back to Eve's only once she was sure she wouldn't break down in tears. "My turn. How did you even know how to find me? And why is it you're always trying to sideline me when we're in the field? " she tossed the spoon down into the bowl with the last part and glared as best she could through watering eyes. "I'm just as good a Librarian as Jacob or Ezekiel so why do I get the kid gloves?"

Eve ignored the fact that Cassandra had really asked three separate questions to her one and concentrated on just breathing again since the pain in the younger woman's voice had effectively stolen her breath. "Ok, lets start with the easy answer. I ran into Jenkins and he might have mentioned that you were looking for some company and this was the last place the Back Door had been set to; there's not a whole lot of town here...finding you wasn't really that hard." She took another deep breath which she followed by downing her martini, save for the olives. "I'm not trying to sideline you Cassandra, or treat you with kid gloves..." she looked away " I just don't want to lose you."

"I see." Cassandra said, the slightest hint of bitterness seeping into the words, "So it's something kind of Guardian perfectionist thing. The first one in history to have three Librarians to protect at the same time and you have to keep the weakest one safe." She laughed derisively "You don't get to choose whether or not you lose me...that's a done deal thanks to this...fucking time bomb in my brain." She ignored the tears that had broken free and streamed silently down her cheeks. "I'm already going to die, I don't have a choice in when but I can damn sure choose how. Knowing what I know about the world and the dangers out there? I am not just going to sit around and wait for death...if I die trying to save even a small piece of the world then it'll have been worth it." She wiped furiously at her cheeks, "Besides, when I'm gone you'll still have Jacob and Ezekiel...and Flynn too I guess; if he ever figures out how to restore the library."

Left alone with Stone and Jones and occasionally Carsen? Eve suppressed a shudder. The thought alone was enough to make her wish she could lock the redhead in a tower somewhere just to keep her safe...and maybe stay in that tower with her as an added precaution. There were certainly worse ways to spend her life. She slipped out of her seat and walked to Cassandra, taking the Librarian's hands in her own tenderly; she waited for Cassandra's eyes to meet hers before speaking. "Cassandra, I don't think of you as weak. I think you're amazing; so many people would just throw in the towel if they had to deal with what you do on a daily basis but you see the best in everyone even Jones..,which is nothing shy of miracle in my book." She noticed Cassandra's lips quirk up into a slight smile and felt hers do the same. "You've come so far from the young woman who thought the best solution to training was to hide and hope I didn't find her. So no, it's not a Guardian perfectionist thing," she took a deep breath and wished she had another drink; she'd never liked talking about emotions. "When I say that I don't want to lose you, I mean that I don't want to lose you." She stressed the "I " hoping that the genius in front of her would put the pieces together.

Cassandra's eyes widened as the words began to sink in. There was no way Eve was saying what she thought, was there? Only one way to be sure. "Eve...what are you trying to say to me?"

Right. Of course she wouldn't just read between the lines, that would be too easy. Instead of words, Eve closed the short distance between them slowly, giving Cassandra every opportunity to pull away before capturing the redhead's lips in a kiss.

Cassandra almost pinched herself just to make sure this wasn't another dream before coming to her senses and wrapping her arms around Eve as she deepened the kiss. If it was a dream she was going to enjoy it. Only when oxygen became an issue did she pull back, though she left her arms around the other woman. "Oh." She managed with a slight giggle.

"Oh." Eve raised an eyebrow elegantly, smiling wide enough that her cheeks hurt. "Is that a good "oh" or a dear god how do I let her down gently "oh" ?"

"It's a good "oh" ...a very good "oh"...great, really. It's just..." Cassandra trailer off, worrying her Lowe lip between her teeth, her eyes sliding to the apple sitting, soaking really, in the now mostly melted ice cream.

Eve stroked the younger woman's back soothingly, "Just what Cass?"

" I like that." Cassandra beamed, "No one has ever really called me just Cass before. My parents always called me Cassandra, unless I was in trouble at which point they would break out the middle name too." Judging by the look the blonde was giving her, she wasn't getting off the hook that easily. "Ok," she sighed, "It's just considering where we are, there is a small part of me that can't help but wonder what if this is just some lingering effect from the Libris Fabula or subconscious birthday wish jump started the spell again thing that'll end at the stroke of midnight ? Because I live in a world where magic spells and wishes are apparently real things. Heck before I knew it was you who sent the dessert I was considering the possibility that the brunette at the bar was Snow White because of the apple...it wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen."

Eve unwound her arms from Cassandra's body and turned towards the bar to get a look at the brunette in question. She was attractive enough, the Guardian supposed, if skin tight clothing that hindered breathing was your thing. She much preferred Cassandra's casually comfortable style. Doing her best to quash the sudden burst of jealousy in her chest, she turned back to the redhead, who had gone back to her drink; eyes downcast. "It's not the book, Cass, or a wish. And it doesn't have to end at all, let alone midnight unless you want it to." She smirked " So yes, the whole where has she been all my life, I want her to ride me away on a white horse somewhere we can live happily ever after and I can bear her children thing was probably the Princess persona." She didn't bother trying to hide her amusement as Cassandra's eyes bulged as she tried to swallow her drink.

"You did that on purpose!" Cassandra coughed, swatting Eve's shoulder playfully.

"Maybe." Eve nodded "But even after the princess faded away, I'd find myself thinking about you. Little things, like how cutely your forehead furrows when you're trying to solve a problem and the way you just light up when you do solve it." She slowly stroked Cassandra's cheek. "This, now? That's just us. The only spell I'm under is yours."

Cassandra blushed, leaning her head into the blonde's hand. "Eve..." she near whispered, "That was the...corniest thing I have ever heard you say." She finished with a laugh. "You're just a big softie!"

"Shut up." Eve swatted at the other woman's shoulder.

"Make me, Princess." The Librarian retorted, eyed sparkling.

"Gladly." Came the reply as Eve pressed close and stole another kiss. This time it wasn't the lack of oxygen that broke the two apart, though it was close, but rather an incessant buzzing from Cassandra's purse.

With an apologetic smile, Cassandra reached into her purse and retrieved her phone, glancing at the screen before accepting the call and pressing the phone to her ear. "Hi Jenkins." She chirped. "Colonel Baird?" She shot Eve a questioning glance. "Yes, she's right here actually." There was a brief pause as she passed the phone over.

"Yes?" Eve listened intently for a moment "You're sure? Ok. We'll be there as soon as we can. " Another pause. "We're maybe ten minutes from the back door's entrance on our end. See you soon " She hung up and passed the phone back. "Something's up." She explained "We need to get back." She glanced around the bar until she caught the waitress's eye and motioned her over.

"Ok." Cassandra said, not at all surprised that her birthday would end in an emergency situation. "Just please don't try to "keep me safe"? I don't want to lose you either, you know." She watched as Eve settled the bill and caught her eyes. "We take care of each other, deal?"

"Deal." Eve agreed, taking Cassandra's hand as the redhead slid out of chair.

Moments later Eve and Cassandra stepped through the Back Door into a suspiciously dark Annex. The Guardian briefly tightened her grip on the young Librarian's hand and guided her into a crouch against the wall. "Ok, there's no way this is a good sign." She whispered, quietly enough that only the two of them could hear "And of course the one time I wear something completely impractical to accessorize with a weapon I end up wishing I had one. If we get out of this, remind me to invest in a thigh holster. " She gave Cassandra's hand a quick squeeze and let go. "I'm going to see if I can get the lights back on. If I'm not back in five minutes I want you to get out of here and try getting in touch with Stone...or even Jones and let them know something's wrong." She began to sidle away, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"What the hell?" Cassandra hissed "I thought we'd agreed that you weren't going to try to keep me safe. We keep each other safe, remember? Let me help."

Eve smiled and drew closer, "I'm not trying to keep you safe Cass. I'm trusting you to have my back. If something happens, you round up the rest of the cavalry and come to the rescue. You're keeping me safe really." With that, she pressed a kiss to Cassandra's lips before moving off into the dark.

"Oh she had better not think she can win all arguments by kissing me and walking off." The Librarian grumbled to herself. Still, it wasn't the worst way to "lose", maybe she'd just have to see if it was as effective against the blonde. Provided they survived to have future arguments. As the seconds stretched on into infinity and Eve hadn't returned , the upossibility seemed less likely. Finally she decided that she'd waited enough; it was time to go for help. Silently as she could, she rose and turned to the door and just as her hand closed around the knob, the lights came on.

"Surprise!"

She whipped around at the shout, both hands flying to her mouth and barely muffling her startled squeak. There behind the tables at the center of the room stood Eve, Jacob, Ezekiel and Jenkins; all wearing brightly colored party hats. Above them, hanging from the bannister of the second floor was a clearly hand painted sign that read "Happy Birthday Cassandra!"

"Wh...what's all this?" She managed to get out once her heart rate had returned to something close to normal. Her eyes pricked with tears as a smiling Eve approached holding a party in her hands.

"I thought it would be obvious, this is a surprise party." Jenkins deadpanned as Eve settled the party hat atop Cassandra's head and tucked the elastic strap beneath her chin. "A couple of weeks ago Colonel Baird observed that you hadn't made any mention of your upcoming birthday and when Stone and Jones confirmed you hadn't said anything about it to either of them she decided a surprise party would be in order." He smiled "If you'll pardon me a moment, I'll go get the cake." With that he headed back deeper into the Annex.

Cassandra quickly blinked away tears as a grin spread across her face. "My god...you guys..." she rushed towards Jacob and Ezekiel, wrapping an arm around each of them. "You are just the best friends I could ever ask for."

"I'm going to take that as she's forgiving us for turning her down earlier." Ezekiel smirked.

"Of course you're both forgiven." She replied, releasing them and taking a step back. "I can't believe that I didn't catch on when you both had plans."

Jacob grinned, turning to Ezekiel "I do believe she's implying that we don't have lives."

"In your case, mate, she'd be right." Ezekiel teased, "As for me, I'm almost insulted enough to not give her this." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a long thin box; handing it to her with a smile. "Happy birthday Cassandra."

Once more she found herself on the verge of tears; it'd been years since anyone had given her a birthday present. She carefully lifted the lid to reveal a light pink stone shaped like an open book on a silver chain. "It's beautiful." She breathed, smiling at Ezekiel, "Thank you."

The thief shrugged, "It's rose quartz. I had a mate back in Sydney who was into the whole new age thing and would go on and on about crystals. Allegedly rose quartz has healing powers...with everything we've seen so far? Doesn't seem that far fetched."

"Thank you," Cassandra said, stepping forward once more to hug him" I love it."

Jacob cleared his throat. "For the record I wasn't lying when I told you that I had some more of the world to see. I just thought that before all this... you'd probably seen just about as much as I had, and I thought about what normal people do when they travel...and hell, I'm no good at this." He picked up a small box from the table and handed it to her. "It's not the Crown Jewels or anything."

"Could have been if you'd have let me go with you." Ezekiel interjected.

Jacob turned towards the thief. "Look, if you want to end up in prison for someone's birthday, mine is in a few months. I'll be happy to sit in a bar having a drink and putting off figuring out how to save you."

While the guys bantered, she opened the box and pulled out a stuffed bear wearing a Buckingham Palace guard uniform complete with hat. She giggled "Thank you Jacob. It's so cute."

He shrugged, blushing,"It's nothing Cassie. I just wanted you to know that I do trust ya. I have for a while now."

Cassandra reached out and pulled him into a hug."Thank you."

When she finally released him, he rubbed the back of his neck and focused on the Guardian. "So, Colonel Baird, I hiss that leaves you. Get our girl anything special"

Fortunately she was spared having to answer by Jenkins arrival with a cake bearing a cake with twenty-five candles and he started singing "happy birthday " and the others joined in.

Cassandra took a deep breath and blew out the candles. She smiled watching her fellow Librarians bicker as Jenkins sliced the cake; when a pair of arm wrapped themselves around her waist from behind. "So, make a wish?" Eve asked, the words tickling Cassandra's ear.

"No." She replied, pressing back further into Eve's embrace. Years of wishing for her tumor to miraculously disappear had taught her that wasn't the way it would work. But right now? There was no place she would rather be. "Although..."

"Yes?" Eve kissed the shell of the redhead's ear.

Cassandra grinned, "It occurs to me that we both survived the evening. So does that mean a thigh holster would be an appropriate Valentine's Day gift?" She was rewarded with the normally unflappable Eve Baird blushing. All in all, it was the best birthday ever.


End file.
